I owe you an apology. Because there can’t be readers without a writer. And I think it’s fair to say that I have really dropped the ball on my end of our reader/writer relationship.

If I had to describe the past year in just two words, it would be “upside down” and “backwards.” (I guess that’s more like two phrases, unless you hyphenate “upside-down,” but I just googled it and apparently that’s not a thing that people do.) Anyway, case in point: I’ve always thought this blog was about possibilities. Like the possibility of replacing this fence

I’ve had 61 days to get you something better than the project I’m currently working on. I know it’s only been a couple of weeks since I told you about the Sunshower Chandelier, but that was actually finished and hung up well before Rowan was born. It just took me a long time to write the blog post about it. I guess it’s finally time to admit, my priorities have shifted.Continue Reading

The kitchen is done! Has been for a while now! And apparently I just took a little time off to recover from my renovation hangover before starting another big house project!

So, hi! How have you been? It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve chatted. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on anything. Oh no. Because I am incapable of doing nothing. I must always be working, fixing, changing, IMPROVING!! A ROLLING STONE GATHERS NO MOSS!! CAN’T SLEEP CLOWN WILL EAT ME!!

Oh, don’t look so shocked. I know I said I wasn’t going to blog again until it was done. But it’s not like you didn’t see this coming, after Tuesday’s post. I’ve clearly been thinking about things other than trim. And it turns out that I have SO MANY THOUGHTS banging around inside my head that if I don’t release them in the form of a post, bad things happen. Like, the last time I didn’t post for two whole weeks, and the thoughts got so crowded that they had to compete for territory, and there was some sort of battle royal in my brain.

It was a messy fight, in which the biggest, baddest thought of them all pummeled its way to the top, throwing out all the weaker thoughts and finally forcing me to do its bidding: to enter myself in a terrifying contest.

I shudder to imagine what other kinds of compromising positions I could find myself in if I let that happen again. So I’m gonna let some of my thoughts out to play here, in this post.

So two Saturdays ago, I’m sitting around in my pajamas, avoiding working on the trim work by reading other people’s blogs. And it came to my attention that Creating with the Stars (CWTS) would soon be opening up “auditions” for this year’s contestants.

For those of you who don’t know what CWTS is, you can read more about it here, on East Coast Creative. I’ll wait here while you go check it out. Here’s the part that’s relevant to today’s post: 12 bloggers compete in a 4-week competition, in which they have to crank out one project per week in four different categories. They have to be super creative. They have to be fast, both in planning and execution. And it wouldn’t hurt to be crafty.

Now. For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to share a couple of anecdotes.Continue Reading

Well, let’s start with the big one: I came to my senses and realized that I had to at least try to finish the kitchen.

That’s right, I started installing some of the trim work that I last mentioned here, back on December 17th. Yup, two months ago I was already talking about how long I’ve ignored this project.

But building that desk and planning the music room have apparently exorcised my creative demons, at least for the time being. With that out of my system, I’ve realized that I am now able to focus on mundane, repetitive, non-creative projects…

My fellow Earthicans dear readers… For the past 15 months, you have endured such hardship. You have stuck with me despite the obstacles to your pure, unadulterated enjoyment of this fine publication. And so it is with great pleasure that I tell you, that TODAY is a GLORIOUS DAY!

And I’ve been pretty terrible about keeping this secret, so if you didn’t see this coming, you’re not following me on Facebook or Twitter. (How many times do I have to ask you?! Aren’t you tired of always being the last to know these things??)

But now it’s time for you to officially meet the other blog in my life. Because I’ve been putting an awful lot of time into it lately, and I don’t want to hide it anymore. Say hello to BODYReDESIGN.

You see, before I was a DIY amateur, I was (and technically, still am) a fitness expert. By day a personal trainer, by night a wanna-be home-improvement blogger, and never the twain shall meet.

Until now. Finally, fate has flung these two together in a passionate embrace, and BODYReDESIGN is their love-child.Continue Reading

I’m in the middle of committing unspeakable acts of violence against the wainscoting in my dining room. Remember, for the last several months, the dining room has looked like this:

Well, the dining room is the last room in this house that looks like a construction zone. And I am absolutely determined to put it back together and call this huge kitchen/bathroom/dining room remodel D.O.N.E. Step One to finishing the dining room: re-install the 110-year-old wainscoting. But there’s a problem. And I’m not quite ready to tell you about that yet. So prepare to read about the survivors of my vicious attack in Tuesday’s post.

Today, I want to talk about you lovely people. Have I mentioned how great you look today? Did you do something different to your hair? Because you look fabulous. Really.Continue Reading